Scotland's Fourth Land Use Strategy: supporting evidence pack

3 Conclusions

Scotland’s land is a finite and deeply valuable resource, supporting a wide range of economic, environmental, and social outcomes. This supporting evidence pack brings together available data, spatial analysis, and research to provide a cross-sectoral understanding of how Scotland’s land is used today, the benefits it provides, and the opportunities and constraints that shape future land‑use choices. The evidence highlights Scotland’s distinctive landscape character, the importance of agriculture, peatlands, woodlands and other nature-rich areas, and the critical role land plays in responding to climate change, biodiversity loss, and community needs.

Looking ahead, Scotland’s land system will continue to face pressures driven by climate impacts, biodiversity decline, development pressures, and shifting rural economies. Meeting these challenges will require more integrated land‑use planning, better alignment across sectors, and a stronger evidence base to support difficult trade‑offs. This supporting evidence pack highlights several areas where future research and data investment are essential. These include improving national monitoring of soil health, biodiversity condition, habitat quality, and deer impacts; expanding our ability to map natural capital at meaningful spatial scales; and strengthening our understanding of how landscape‑scale choices affect climate resilience, water management, and ecosystem services.

Forthcoming programmes – such as Scotland’s Land LiDAR initiative, continued ENRA research, new modelling capabilities, and cross‑UK partnerships like the LUNZ and MACC hubs – offer major opportunities to close evidence gaps and deliver on-the-ground change. As these new capabilities mature, they will help Scotland anticipate land use change, assess risks, and evaluate the implications of different land use pathways.